Numerous conventional processes require that materials be treated in a specific atmosphere for a specific period of time at high temperature in an oven. Important examples of such processes include mold curing and die attachment of electronic components, such as integrated circuits.
Conventional oven systems have lacked practical "random access" capability, in the sense that they have not included practical means for removing selected load from an oven at desired times and for introducing selected loads into the oven at selected times, in response to remotely generated control signals. Rather, conventional oven systems have employed a conveyor belt to translate a stream of loads through an oven (so that the first load to enter the oven must exit the oven before the second load to enter the oven may exit the oven), or have required that batches of loads simultaneously enter the oven and thereafter, simultaneously exit the oven.
Further, conventional oven systems that employ a conveyor belt to translate a stream of loads through an oven have had bulky size, occupying large floor areas without realizing the floor space economies attainable by maximizing the use of vertical space above a given floor area.
Until the present invention, it was not known how to construct and operate systems for treatment of a plurality of loads in an oven in a manner eliminating the above-described disadvantages of conventional systems.